the conflict between russia and ukraine continues. later we will discuss campaign 2022 with axios senior political correspondent josh kraushaar. as always, you can join the conversation with your calls, texts, and tweets. ♪ >> good morning everyone. it is tuesday, august 2. senate republicans are reversing course, saying they will help pass a veterans health care bill after days of criticism for blocking the bill last week. activists and comedian jon stewart along with veterans were at the u.s. capitol again yesterday to hold lawmakers' seats to the fire. we will get your take on the debate over this legislation. republicans 202-748-8001. , 202-748-8000.

for democrats. independents, your line is 202-748-8002. active and retired military, we want to hear your opinion,, too,. 202-748-8003. you can also text us at that number, just include your name, city and state. or send a tweet at the handle @cspanwj. good morning to you all. start dialing in, texting us and posting. . we will get your thoughts in just a. minute on this legislation. it is. called "the honoring our pact act." it adds 23 burn pit and toxic exposure related conditions to the v.a.'s list of presumptions, and it expands presumptions

related to agent orange exposure to the vietnam war. it strengthens and improves the is resources for training for exposed veterans, and there is additional money set aside to bolster v.a.'s claims processing and health care facilities. we want to know what you think about this debate in washington. as we told you, jon stewart, comedian and activist was there last week with veterans, to celebrate what they thought they were doing, celebrating passage of the bill. instead, it was blocked. it failed to advance to a vote, 55-42, falling short of the 60 votes needed. 20 republicans opposed it. senate majority leader chuck schumer on the floor yesterday, saying he is bringing the bill back. >> in the past few days, the capitol has been the site of something we shouldn't see in

this country, dozens of veterans protesting through the night, demanding that the senate take action under health care benefits. they are there right now as we speak. no veteran who would sacrifice for our country should ever have to resort to spending the night on the capitol steps to secure their benefits. but sadly, in this case, they have. it is unfortunate that republican colleagues choose to block the passage of this bill last week, even though this is exactly what legislation many of them supported in june, with one small technical fix. in the coming days we will give senate republicans another chance to do the right thing, to work with us so we can send this bill to the president's desk asap. since 9/11, nearly 3.5 million veterans have been exposed to toxic burn pit in the line of duty, leading to complications like cancer, lung disease and other illnesses.

. but instead of getting the care they need without delay, many have had to hire lawyers and jump through hoops, have to sue the veterans administration to get the help they deserve and need, incurred as they served our country in dangerous places like iraq and vietnam. is that incredible? they have wasted years fighting the v.a. just to get the care they need, when they should have spent the time treating their illnesses. it is people parts tragic and infuriating. our veterans have already given their all to defend our nation from threats abroad. they should not have to fight a second war here at home just to get the health care benefits they rightfully deserve. host: majority leader chuck schumer saying the senate will vote once again this week on this veterans health care bill for those friends who have been exposed to burn pit in the middle east, iraq, afghanistan. from politico, their headline

saying -- republicans have reversed course. they reported that minority leader mitch mcconnell declined to respond to a question monday about why the legislation was held up coal it will pass this week" he told a reporter. at the republicans struck a similar tone. a senator from wyoming told politico he would, quote, "expected to pass." republican from south dakota, mcdonald's number two echoed that,,, quote, "at some point this will pass, and it will pass big." republicans said they block the bill because they were concerned over what senator pat toomey of pennsylvania called "a budget gimmick." that language was in the bill when it initially passed the senate in an 88-14 vote. but in june, a technical snag

forced the senators to vote for it again. we will hear from our first color on the debate. what do you think? caller: it is a very good thing that the bill has been passed. but it is disturbing that whenever a bill is presented, they bundle in other bills. just put one bill with one thing in there and that we can avoid all this nonsense. as far as republicans, and there are some democrat politicians -- they are the worst of all human beings. they always use the veterans when they take photos to get into some political office, but they are careless about these veterans. to think that people have to be publicly disgraced in order to pass a bill -- my father was in the military for 26 years, and he was treated like garbage.

. he was not a disabled veteran, but after he got out, it was so hard for him to get benefits. these politicians should be ashamed. they are the worst of the worst human beings. they have no problem sending these men to war to fight for whatever reason they want, but when it is time to take care of them, they don't want to do it. i am very happy this bill got passed, and hopefully no other servicemember should ever have to go through this again. host: well, it has not passed yet, it is slated for a vote this week, but it looks like it is on its way to passage, and then to the president's desk for signature. this was approved in the senate in june by a vote of 88-14, but there were changes to the text and it was sent back to the house. the house sent a technical tweak to remove an obscure tax provision that some said rate cause additional concerns, and it passed again, 342-88 on july

13. but because of the technical change, they had to send it back to the senate for another vote, last week, wednesday night. that is when republicans opposed it, because of what senator pat toomey said was "budget gimmicky." john in jacksonville, florida, democratic collar. go ahead. good morning to you. caller: they play too many games. that is all i have to say. host: ok. you are in the military. active or retired? caller: retired. host: what do you think of this debate? caller: i think the only reason that they put the $400 billion in pork in there was to try to make republicans look bad by voting against it. there should have been no pork at all. a bill for veterans only.

for health care. i think it is unconscionable what these democrats are doing. host: watch four are you referring to? caller: the -- host: what pork are you referring to? caller: the 400 billion dollars in there that didn't have anything at all to do with the bill for veterans. $400 billion more that they could have spent on this idiotic green new deal. host: ok. but listen to senator toomey explain why he and others opposed it. he was on cnn sundays political show. here's what he had to say. [video clip] >> the top republican on the senate veterans affairs committee says he thinks republicans should pass this now and fix any problems that emerge later. >> except there is never an opportunity to fix the problems later. that is why they are not giving us the opportunity now. they know they can prevent us

from fixing it later. >> one of the questions i think people have about what you are claiming is a budgetary gimmick is, the v.a. budget will always remain subject to congressional oversight. . they can't just spend this money anyway they want. how i read this legislation, it says that this money has to be spent on health care for veterans who suffered exposure from burn pits. >> this is why they do this sort of thing, jake, it gets very deep in the weeds and very confusing very quickly. it's not really about veterans pending. it is about what category of the government bookkeeping they put the spending in. it will have no effect on the amount of money or the circumstances under which the money for veterans is being spent, but what i want to do is treat it for government accounting purposes that we we have always treated it for government accounting purposes. if we change it the way the democrats want, it creates room in future budgets for $400

billion of totally unrelated extraneous spending on other matters. that is what i want to prevent, we are spending too much money to hide behind the veterans bill the opportunity to go on an unrelated $400 billion spending spree. is wrong and we should not allow it. host:. host: that was senator pat toomey on sunday. from the new york times reporting -- the measure would create a new, guaranteed funding stream not subject to congressional appropriations for trading veterans exposed to toxins. republicans warned that could lead to a vast, unchecked spending by the department of veterans affairs. but we want to make sure that the pact act is not used as a vehicle to increase spending outside the objective of the bill, which is to cover specific health care and benefits for veterans. that is a quote from senator toomey. he proposed imposing an animal kept and ending the entitlement

after 10 years, meaning the funding to care for veterans exposed to toxins wouldn't be guaranteed unless congress voted to provide it after 10 years. there is some reporting that senator schumer will let senator toomey proposed this amendment. there is also reporting, though, the debt won't get enough votes -- that that will not get enough votes to be included in the final legislation. let's hear from ron in michigan. ron, are you active or retired military? caller: good morning, gretchen. i am a veteran, my son is active during military right now. i was in vietnam, i was exposed to agent orange, still trying to collect my v.a. benefits. when -- vietnam veterans against the war was first to try and get recognition for ptsd, agent orange, and other related illnesses from vietnam.

we were called cowards. we were spit on by vfw, american legion. our own government fought us. we fought for agent orange recognition and we got it. this bill should be passed immediately. over soldiers are -- host: have you seen the provisions that would help those exposed to agent orange, they are included in this bill as well. caller: yes. this bill should be passed. this may be one of the reasons why we can't recruit enough soldiers. they see that their fathers,, their uncles their brothers are dying and not getting compensated. do you think a young man or woman wants to join the military and see how their relatives or friends are being treated? it is despicable the way that this government treats our veterans. plain and simple. anybody who opposes this bill should be exposed for being a traitor.

there is nothing more important than our military, in our opinion, and the veterans that have served. host: so on this debate with senator toomey about the budgetary gimmick in this legislation, because it would be mandatory, not discretionary spending, the leader of this legislation, senator jon tester, democrat of montana, was on pbs last night. here is how he responded to that. [video clip] >> what do you say to republicans, and we have parted from senator toomey, and by the way, we asked him to join us tonight. 's office said he was not able to do that. but they say this is all about how this is funded. that there is language here about mandatory versus discretionary, this is what they have told my colleague. how do you respond to that? >> there is. there is mandatory funding to take care of veterans. mandatory funding to take care of our veterans. congress cannot come in and say, we will not fund this program

anymore, or we don't have to do it year after year after year. in that vein, they are correct. but for the people who put their lives on the line and serve this country in the military, is that not a good thing? shouldn't they have the certainty to know their health care be there next year, and in the case of burn pits where we have been at war for 20 years and these folks are suffering cancers and lung diseases because of this, shouldn't congress take care of their end of the deal? they should. we did on june 16, but unfortunately now that has been forgotten. i think that is a huge mistake, especially for our volunteer military and folks looking to sign up, looking at this and going, wow. if they are not living up to the end of the deal, why would i want to join? host: the senate is set to vote from the stalled health care bill for those exposed to agent orange in previous wars, and burn pits in most recent wars. our next caller is a veteran in

tampa, florida. what do you say? caller: all i say is that, veterans and people of color, they all vote against their own interest. you get veterans that call in -- a listen to the show everyday and you have people that call in, all, it is the democrats. oh, it is the republicans. they don't understand that both parties do what they do at the end of the day. you get some people caught up, believing that the republican party cares about veterans, when they all don't care about veterans. we just need to quit voting against our interests. when you have got constituents voting in people who have never served to make laws for them,

then we will get what we deserve. i went to iraq and afghanistan. i have respiratory issues from the burn pits. [indiscernible] these people are voting against a bill that would help them. [indiscernible] it is just sad for veterans as well as others to be voting against -- . host: all right. khris, kentucky, independent. hi. caller: good morning. i think we ought to pass the bill for our veterans. but can i tell you about the biggest waste of taxpayer money for veterans that i have seen? we have a retired prosecutor chasing people around with an air force drone over $10 for eight years and six month now, and it costs half $1 million a

day for taxpayers money to do this. host: ok. ronnie in irving, texas. democratic caller. what do you say about this debate in washington over the veterans' health care bill? caller: thank you for taking my call. they should pass this bill immediately. the republicans are doing what they always do, they are playing it for political reasons. there was nothing changed when they voted on it from when they agreed on it the first time. you had your senators like that idiot ted cruz from texas, that plays everything from every angle for his own political gains. this bill should be passed immediately. there is nothing more important than taking care of our veterans. they are being screwed from vietnam on words. like i said, this bill needs to

be passed immediately. the veterans need to be taken care of. if we can't take care of them, that says a lot about the kind of people we are. host: ronnie, i want to get your reaction, this is from a magazine, "the pact act would create a service presumption for 23 conditions, including several types of cancer, leukemia, bronchitis, for veterans who were stationed in 17 countries during particular times, including iraq during the gulf war's, and afghanistan after 9/11. . the secretary of veterans affairs would have power to add more conditions in countries that would qualify. the bill would stop veteran from having to prove that those conditions were linked to their service for getting treatment for them. there is a pretty extensive eligibility criteria. someone who served in iraq and is diagnosed later will be helped.

even though they were never exposed to a burn pit, or were also a lifelong smoker. " what do you think? caller: i think they will have regulations in place. i don't think they will just approve anybody and everybody. i think there will be a system of checks and balances to where they will be able to check it out and make sure that the person is actually eligible for that. i don't think it would be that izzy as they make it sound -- be that easy as they make it sound. host: thomas is our next caller, a veteran. caller: i am in vietnam-era draftee for two years and ended up staying 18. retired in 1989. republicans don't give one, about veterans. . they pretend that they do, but when it comes down to getting benefits for veterans, all for

photo ops and when it is in their best interest. guy's like ted cruz, lindsey graham, matt gaetz, all those guys pretend that we are for the veterans, but they don't give damn. they could care less. veterans vote, too. all my veterans out there -- call these guys out in november and let them know oh, hey, our vote counts, too. thank you, gretchen. host: ok. ted in pennsylvania, independent. hi, ted. caller: good morning. i will just give you some perspective. i served, but i was deployed to kandahar. being exposed to burn pits -- i have to say, when i came of my deployment and those doing our physical after the deployment, i told the doctors, it is really

odd. i feel like i have lost volume in my lungs, because everyone a lot so i am pretty sensitive to that. i said, i feel like i have lost volume in my lungs. they all attributed it to, you are exposed to dust storms over there with all sorts of particulates. so just passing that along as a personal experience. i do hope that they pass the legislation. i think it is important. i heard your comment about [indiscernible] it would be good to have some gatekeeping, i think that would be important. host: ted, before you go, it is a little hard to hear you, you sound a little bit muffled. can i just ask you to explain to our viewers or tell them what it was like, how close were you to these burn pits when you were there, and how long will you exposed to them? caller: i was deployed for about eight months, and when they would do the burning, it was

like it was snowing at times. because they would shut down everything and it was plastics and everything, and it would be out doing your physical exercise, say, around the perimeter, and going through it. you would just be exposed to it. there was no way to not be exposed to it. i would add, too, there were all sorts of particulates in the dust that you would breathe in. you might try to cover your mouth, but there is only so much you can do. so i think to this day, i don't have any lung disease at the moment, but it would be nice to know that if something happens down the road because of that, that there is an opportunity. so i hope it passes. host: so you don't have care through the v.a. now? caller: i do not.

i have regular insurance. host: so if this becomes an issue, you will seek care. when you were there for those eight months, being exposed to it, did it have in order to it as well? caller: it was just smoke. you could see stuff laying around. it was just open burn pits. imagine you are having a fire in your backyard and you are just shoving everything in there. host: when you say everything, what are you talking about? obviously, plastic. caller: whatever garbage you needed to burn. there is no annotation system. host: was there any acknowledgment at the time by your leaders that this could be dangerous? did they know? did they tell you to put a face mask on or be inside at a certain time? caller: no, we were fighting a war. we needed to get business done.

there was really no discussion about it. host: ted in pennsylvania, independent. we will go to benji in new york, republican. hi. caller: good morning. i want to say that i am so frustrated in my fellow republicans. i don't know their -- they are doing things that they are not supposed to do, and then they are doing things that they are supposed to do. people are getting so frustrated. . they are supposed to pass bills. this is our veterans we are talking about, you know? we are getting so frustrated. they sit around doing nothing. , just giving the democrats more points. host: so you are worried that this could help democrats in the midterm elections in november? caller: i think so. this will help them big time, because these guys are not doing anything.

i talked to my friends on the road and stuff, they say the republicans are not doing nothing, and the democrats are going to make it so nice for themselves. they are going in there and pass bills and make biden look so beautiful, you know what i mean? this republican party, i don't know. i don't know. host: ok. more of your thoughts, coming up. remember to text as well 202-748-8003. ,or send a tweet with the handle, @cspanwj, or on facebook.com/c-span. in other news, the u.s. navy deployed four warships east of taiwan as the speaker of the house heads toward taipei. she is headed to taiwan at some point today, arriving there on wednesday. in taiwan, they are 12 hours ahead of us here on the east coast. it is 7:30 p.m. there.

and according to news reports, she will make that trip to taiwan. it is not clear how long she stays, but it looks like the military is preparing for her visit. the u.s. military. there are some reports of possibly a military escort as she makes her way there, despite warnings by the national security. other news, democrats race to ready the inflation reduction act for a vote this week. they are using that reconciliation procedure, which means they will not need the 60 votes that they normally need, they can pass it with 50. but they cannot lose any democrats, and we haven't yet heard from kyrsten sinema, democrat of arizona, on how she plans to vote for that. also, the president addressing the nation in primetime last night, to announce that he authorized a u.s. drone strike

tokyo, successfully, ayman al-zawahiri, who is -- was al qaeda's top leader, replacing osama bin laden. the president saying yesterday that he was deeply involved in the planning of the 9/11 attacks, and the mastermind of other attacks like the uss cole and embassies in africa. if you missed the president last night, you can watch it on, c-span.org. michael in hudson, florida. let's hear from you, veteran. when did you serve, michael? caller: this is michael. i did not serve. i was born in 1957, got out of high school in 1975, so i missed vietnam. i was very lucky. i wanted to go fight, but thank god, i didn't have to. our poor veterans. they are still fighting for

insurance. it is just unbelievable. these are americans. 17, 18, 19, 20 years old, they go to war and fight for us and get killed and get diseases. they stand around burn pits. the questions of what was burned is just crazy, there is stuff being burned that you don't even want to know about. our poor veterans had to breathe that stuff in and can't get help from our u.s. government? it is pathetic. it is sad. democrats i was a democrat -- but i am in between right now. republicans, come on, make sure our veterans are always insured. just like a job. when they leave if they have a problem, it should be addressed. thank you. i hope i made a point. host: caller: it troubles me tow the republican senators were

high-fiving each other after they voted no. host: where did you learn that? caller: i sought on four different new show. it's troubling to see that one of my senators, rick scott voted no on this bill. it breaks my heart that republicans who are taken care of by american taxpayers who are senators have a pension for the rest of their lives and great medical care can't find it in their hearts to honor military veterans who have protected them in many different circumstances. republicans like to win it, they don't like to govern. that's all i have to say. host: jim in arizona, a veteran.

good morning to you. caller: this technical thing they are talking about in the bill, what that was is there is a provision that after 10 years, that was taken out. now they are calling it a slush fund. you don't want that provision in there. that's what they can start messing with your insurance again. it is taken out. vote for this thing. to me isn't even in the senate. he's not responsible for this anymore. it's like the january 6 thing. it's right in front of your nose but you can't see it. come on. host: when did you serve? caller: 1980-2000 and the navy.

i've been watching c-span ever since 2000. i can see these tricks these politicians play. senator tester just said that's what all about, the 10 year provision. they are going to let it sunset. they took that out. host: ok. michigan it, a democratic color. what do you say? caller: i come from a military family. i didn't go into the military, my sister did. my uncle did. he was exposed to agent orange because he would keep people that were injured in the helicopters. they consider him dead for six months. my thing is this, people in the military have less right than me and you as individuals. they put their lives on the line

for me and you. they should be taken care of when they get out of the military. this government is not doing them right. thank you. host: as we told you, jon stewart and these veterans who were here last week hoping to celebrate passage, and it was blocks. as many of you saw, they held an angry news conference after was blocked. they have been in washington since then. yesterday, john stuart, this is from the tmz website. he gets into a shouting match over this legislation. take a look at that altercation. >> what's the problem? i'm not even against you guys. >> then why are you posting? host: john stuart yesterday.

as tmz noted, here he is apologizing to fellow protesters. >> i'm sorry. he knows he is lying. it's costing you guys. that's not ok. nobody is coming here and trolling us and telling us something that is a true and holding back on what you deserve and what you worked for. i'm fighting for you. we are not letting this go. >> thank you. host: yesterday on capitol hill, hoping to pressure lawmakers, republicans to reverse course as it seems they have done in past

the veterans health care bill. the majority leader said it is coming back to the senate for vote this week. we want you to tell these lawmakers your thoughts on the debate. brad is in north carolina. good morning. caller: i just want to talk about -- host: we will go to you, apologies if anybody heard that. go ahead. caller: the bill should pass. i'm a veteran of iraq. i am in flora. i find it appalling. i find it appalling that rick scott voted no. he is a navy veteran himself. the v.a. motto is to care for

him who have borne the battle and his widow. these lawmakers are not honoring the v.a. the bill has stuff that is going to help veterans and it has things in their from state to state. host: you are breaking up. let me remind our viewers if they miss the top of the conversation what is in this legislation. it's called the honoring our packed act. it would extend health care to combat veterans. it adds burn pit illnesses. it expands presumptions to agent

orange exposure. this is from senator tester, it would strengthen research on toxics exposure and improve resources and training for those veterans and there is money to bolster claims processing and v.a. health care facilities. vincent is in new jersey. good morning. caller: hello. thank you for the opportunity. i think that for the veterans since they have less -- risk their lives fighting for us, technically on both sides, this shouldn't be a thing. my solution, it should be for the military vets for them to be taken care. get universal health care. bring that to this country. they risked their lives for us.

we should stop playing games with their lives. we talk about thanking them for what they have done, sacrificing. it is time for universal health care to be here for them so they can be treated like royalty. host: ohio, and dependent, what do you think? joe in ohio? caller: hello? can you hear me? hello? host: you have to turn down your television. moving on. howard is in texas. you are a veteran. caller: good morning. how are you doing. host: thank you for your service. caller: i -- 75-80.

i was in the air force. host: what do you think about this legislation? caller: is it just for the veterans? is there any oversight? i haven't seen anything. it's crazy what he does. i don't know why he's acting like he's acting and speaking the way he's speaking. what has president biden done since he's been a politician for veterans? host: randy is in pennsylvania. a veteran. good morning. caller: i think this was a ploy for the midterms. i've been going to the v.a. for 40 years. i've never been turned down for anything. they have taken care of me for 40 years. this is all nonsense. the republicans of always taken care of veterans.

democrats of always pushed back against veterans. it's more democratic ploys for the midterms. host: dean is in kentucky. caller: i'm a vietnam veteran. i go to the v.a. and i have to fight to get anything. they don't do nothing for you. i'm a republican. it disturbs me because these people didn't go fight for their country. you don't want to be a guinea pig. i go to v.a. and nothing happens. thank you. host: in other news, many of you

know about the flooding in kentucky. here is a headline from the local news there. the governor said the death toll has risen to at least 37. the republican leader in the senate mitch mcconnell is from that state. he took to the floor to talk about what's happened in his home state. >> eastern kentucky is reeling from some of the worst flooding in history. they are still experiencing rainfall today. this tragic crisis is far from over. in jackson, water reached 43 feet high. drone footage shows towns completely submerged. roadways of turned into rivers.

across more than a dozen counties, severe rainstorms have created crisis conditions. water rose too quickly for many to react. the governor says at least 30 kentuckians have lost their lives, including children. i think that number is likely to rise in coming days. families of lost homes, businesses, heirlooms, eastern kentucky is well known for its steep hill tops. the features make it one of the most unique in the country. it creates complications for

emergency personnel. our first responders including the national guard from kentucky and surrounding states are working overtime to find and recover stranded residents. they rescued 1400 individuals. nearly half of the rescues were by air. host: mitch mcconnell, a republican of kentucky talking about the flooding. he was on the floor yesterday. the death toll is 30, it will likely rise and it has. the governor says at least 37 have died in that flooding. we also have this headline from the wall street journal. a writer gets more than seven years. he was the first defendant to stand trial was convicted of obstruction, a gun crime, other charges by a jury in march.

hundreds of other defendants way whether to take plea deals or continue fighting their charges. let's hear from rose in maryland, good morning to you. we are asking you about lawmakers, what do you think about the veteran health care bill and the debate over passing it. what do you think? caller: good morning. i am the widow of an honorably discharged navy veteran who was in the reserves. he died in 2012 at suburban hospital. i took him out of the v.a. they did not diagnose him correctly. they knew he had melanoma. when it started to met a test to size in his body, they didn't tell me that.

that was determined by the er. he only lived another month because they said it was just too far gone. i am hoping this bill gets passed. the burn pit thing, i don't what -- understand what the symptoms are. i think there should be a precedence and give priorities to the ones who don't have much money and can't afford to seek out other opinions from the private medical world. that could save lives in the end. give them the medical care they really need. host: you said you don't really understand the burn pits. you don't understand what happened. caller: i don't have real knowledge of it.

it sounds terrible. any kind of burn thing and how toxic it is. i represent the general public, we really need to be told the level of how severe it gets when it gets to stage one, 3, 4. the congress and senators need to be educated more. maybe they would see this issue and attack it more readily. it needs to be passed right away. i hope they pass it. i hope jamie raskin is all for it. he is still dealing with the horrible insurrection, it's justified that he spends time on that. he and the senators, they need to take action on it mutely. host: i will read from wikipedia

about these burn pits. there are ways to dispose of nonhazardous solid waste. incinerators, burial, landfill. burning is a way to dispose of the waste from the site. it increases the risk of fumes due to modern waste. there is plastic, shipping materials, electronic waste that may met toxic compounds. they were criticized and resulted in a lawsuit. these instances have been criticized. the effects of burn pits seem to be similar to fire debris cleanup. that is wikipedia. i'm sure you can find other sources. caller: that gives me more definition.

if this is about plastic bottles, that's another reason to not use plastic drinking waddles and to use one decent one and just fill it with water that you keep at home in a jug or that you purify. host: we will go to jeff in kentucky. when did you serve? caller: i served from 1986 until 1989. i'm at desert storm veteran. it's a big hole in the ground, anything they put in there that they can burn they put in. host: what do you think about this debate? caller: my opinion is it's nothing to do with democrats or republicans. they told me when i went in you

will get your medical benefits when you get out. they do not stand behind that. it's time that they got off their bots and started taking care of the veterans. i work with them every day. i know vietnam veterans that have not got their health benefits yet. they are still waiting. agent orange veterans are still waiting to get their benefits. host: this legislation has provisions and it the deal with agent orange as well. caller: yes. how many years has vietnam been over? it shouldn't take that long to get a veteran their benefits. host: from the new york times, this would affect 3.5 billion veterans and rivals the agent

orange act. let's hear from ben in fort lauderdale, independent. are you there? let me try this one more time. good morning. caller: i was in the navy between the late 70's and 80's. i was stationed in guam where i was exposed to agent orange through the water levels. i went into severe diabetes

which caused me to lose my kidney. thank god i had a transplant. i went lined. i voted for rick scott and i'm ashamed to say that i voted for him. he is playing with the uso, would a soldier rather have crackers or medical for his family? this is crazy. host: david is in ohio. caller: how are you doing? good morning. if the people the truth they wouldn't be saying all this stuff. they put all the other krapp in these vehicles, they don't vote it down because they let these things go through. host: jon tester said this the

same bill that republicans passed earlier this year in june. there is just one small technical change. he said he would sit down with anyone and go line by line and show it's the same bill that passed in june. caller: that wasn't in the same bill. they don't pass it. by the even have to make a bill? every veteran should get health care. they shouldn't have to go through the v.a. i've tried to fight for benefits for 13 years.

i had a woman at the v.a. said there wasn't nothing wrong with me for 10 years. she sent me to a hospital. i never got the paperwork from my v.a. records. they denied me the whole time. host: we will go to antonio. good morning to you. caller: good morning. this is my first time calling in. i was in the army for six years. i was exposed to these burn pits when i was in iraq. i heard one of your callers say the v.a. takes care of you. they didn't take care of me. i got my degree. i work with disabled veterans right now professionally.

they don't take care of all of us. there is a lot of stuff that it's not service-connected like my lung issues, they are not service-connected. it takes 14 months to get an appointment to service-connected something. a lot of these people are trying to fatigue us into not fighting back. these people, these senators are the only ones who are not held accountable. host: how long were you exposed to the burn pits? caller: it was only on two different occasions. there was an incident where i got in trouble. it was made for me to do it as a punishment. there was a lot of medical waste, plastic, chemicals, biological stuff. i was not given face protection.

i raised concerns that it was unhealthy. they said shut up and do your job. that sort of thing happens. after the fact, my government knows that i've been subjected to this stuff. i am just forgotten about. it's insulting. host: we will go to west virginia. good morning two. when did you serve? caller: thank you for taking my call, thank you for taking calls from the veterans. i am in a quandary with the v.a. it has nothing to do with my health care. i am happy with my health care. i've been with them for many decades now. i served in thailand for one year, like so many others. i was exposed to agent orange

every day. this was in 1967, 1968. i worked in the bomb dump, and what we called preloaded. we were loading bombs or were transported to the white line. the area i worked, all the white line was sprayed with agent orange to keep the security perimeters open and visible. v.a. has denied all veterans of thailand service connection to a list of presumptive illnesses that if you were in vietnam and worked under the exact same conditions, you got a presumption. you didn't have to prove you got whatever. it was presumed that you did.

service connection for the veterans of thailand as well as the burn pits is the issue. i think this should not be a political battle at all. my personal opinion, i have read every word of the bill in its original form. there is no difference in the bill. i listened to senator blackburn yesterday from tennessee speaking about -- it was just really sad to hear what she was saying. this would add 3.5 million veterans to the roles of the v.a., thereby slowing down services to where veterans couldn't receive health care they deserve.

the reality of it is these veterans we are talking about are already being served by the v.a. this has nothing to do with whether or not they receive health care. it has to do with whether they receive disability ratings from service-connected illnesses. it is sad. unfortunately, one of your callers addressed an issue that is kind of a colored issue. it is gray in color in that there are certain senators that have promoted the privatization of the v.a. for many years. she talked about the community care program, which i have used because i live in a rural area. i have to travel 90 miles to the v.a.. community care works, it's not

the answer. we don't need to replace the v.a. thank you for taking my call. host: hi, susan. caller: my father was a pow during world war ii. i understand that more was put in the bill after it was voted on, $400 billion was put in the bill after it was voted on. host: senator toomey said he's concerned that 400 billion dollars could be used in future years as a slush fund to take things that are not related to veteran health care. i didn't hear him say in his interview on sunday that there is $400 billion in there. caller: toomey wasn't the only one talking. if they want to put more in the bill, they can take it up again, and they can vote

for it, and then it would pass. and they can do a clean bill. host: seems like it will be coming up again for a vote this week. senate majority leader chuck schumer says he is bringing it back to the floor for a tune into c-span 2 for gavel to gavel coverage of debate on the floor. you can hear for yourself when they come back into session today around midday. you will hear more from the majority leader than. -- then. up next, we take a look at where the u.s. is going when it comes to gas prices and oil supply. joining us is jim burkhard. later, axios senior political correspondent josh kraushaar discusses campaign 2022 and political news of the day. ♪

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c-spanshop.org is our store. browse the latest products, books, home decor, and accessories. there is something for every c-span fan, and every purchase helps our nonprofit operations. shopw now at c-spanshop.org. >> "washington journal" continues. host: joining us this morning is in burkhart, here to talk about gas and oil prices in the market. you are the head of research for oil markets and energy mobility at s&p global commodity insights , the vice president there. what is going on right here today with oil and gas markets and the gas prices? guest: it is a precarious state paid we had covid and then -- it is a precarious state. we had covid and then the

invasion of ukraine. the mobile market that we nuisance the 1990's are now coming apart -- that we knew since the 1990's are now coming apart. between those who bother -- who buy oil from russia and those who do not pay because of higher prices, demand has started to ease. we had a strong demand surge late 2020, 20201 -- host: post-covid -- guest: post-covid. that demand has eased in response to high prices. another key factor in the recent easing of prices is the economic slowdown in china, which typically has been the biggest source of oil demand. that has had a big impact on easing prices as well. host: explained that, what is happening in china that impacts us going to the pump in the united states. guest: it is a global market. everyone pays the same price for

crude oil, essentially. china, the second-biggest oil market in the world and the most important in terms of oil demand growth in the past decade -- china has had this zero covid policy. i think they now call it dynamic covid policy. but it led to shutdowns of import parts of the economy in china, particularly in march, april, and may, in shanghai and in other parts as well, and that slowed the recovery in china. china was the first to recover after covid. but then this year, the return of bouts of covid in key cities slowed china's economy. the property market in china, a key engine of growth in china, also slowed. this year, oil demand in china is likely to decline from what it was a year ago -- not by much but by a little. that is a very significant development, given china's role as the main source of oil demand growth over the last decade.

host: so if the chinese are not demanding as much gas, that means we, in the united states of america, get to pay less? guest: not necessarily. what happens -- oil is a reflection of the world. what happens in china, in the u.s., europe, the middle east, it all comes together to shape the price of oil. so the demand equation is one part of it. then you have supply. supply, because of the oil supply collapsed during covid, investment in new supply fell dramatically in 2020. some countries still are unable to produce as much as they did before covid, including the united states. so while demand growth has slowed and eased, supply is still struggling to keep pace, even with lesser demand growth. host: the white house said yesterday gas prices have come

down 17 days straight. is that true and why? guest: yes. the u.s. national average in june broke $5 per gallon. that was the highest nominal price ever. they have eased since then, largely because of slowing demand growth around the world, particularly in china but also in the u.s. that is a key factor in the easing of prices. there have been some additional supply -- saudi arabia and the uae have put more supply on the market. u.s. oil production is generally growing. so there has been more supply. and russian oil exports, despite the war, despite the sanctions, have been remarkably resilient. russian crude oil exports really have not fallen since the invasion began. host: who is buying their oil? guest: china, india.

european countries are still buying russian oil, much less than before the war, but they are still buying it. there are still many buyers of russian oil. we have seen a big switch towards more asian buyers of russian oil since the invasion began, particularly from india. host: let's talk about supply and what happened after this country went into the pandemic stage of covid-19. all cities across the country were shut down. there was demand gone. what was our supply situation like then and how did former president trump respond to that supply? where did he put it? guest: it was a remarkable chain of events in 2020. as we all know, the economy largely shut down. mobile oil demand fell 20% in april of 2020. we had never seen anything like that before. massive decline in demand.

oil prices fell negative, briefly -- can you imagine, if you are a producer of oil, you have to pay someone to take it. right on the eve of covid, u.s. oil production was at an all-time high, almost 13 million barrels per day. as covid hit, oil prices collapsed, oil production started to fall. in april of 2020, march april -- march and april of 2020, president trump helped to essentially broker a deal between saudi arabia and russia and other members of opec and that countries that work with them that lead to a 10 million barrel per day cut in oil production in 2020. fast-forward forward to today, this month, that 10 million per barrel a day cut -- oil demand before covid was 100 million barrels per day it it was a very

substantial cut on the part of saudi arabia, russia, and their partners. that cut has now been made up, for the most part, for those who can. but again, some countries who cut back in 2020 -- angola, nigeria -- they cannot produce as much as they can before because of a decline in investment. host: after the president did this, was there still a glut of supply? guest: absolutely. the amount of oil put into storage skyrocketed in april and may of 2020. the fastest pace of growth in inventory we have ever seen. host: what happened to that oil? guest: a lot of that, as demand recovered -- demand really started to recover in june of 2020, and it recovered at a pretty fast lip. -- clip. that build up in inventory we saw the first few months of covid has largely been drained

over the last year and a half to meet rising demand. host: and it was not enough, is that correct? what happened over the last year and a half? once that glut was gone, then what? guest: there is not much production capacity left. what we call spare production capacity -- oil production capacity that is not currently utilized is very thin right now. back in 2020, when these cuts were first made, you had spare capacity of almost 10 million barrels per day. today, that effective scare -- spare capacity, that cushion is probably one million euros per day or less. host: i want to encourage our viewers to call in with your questions and comments about what you're seeing where you live, what is it like for you with oil and gas prices. jim burkhard is the vice president and head of research

for oil markets, energy, and mobility with s&p global community insights. he is here to take your questions and comments, so start dialing in. you can also text us, (202) 748-8003. how much is a barrel of oil now, and what does that tell you? guest: there are two key prices, but they are essentially both in the upper 90's. $96 if you look at the american benchmark, $99 for crude oil if you're looking at the international benchmark. by benchmark, those other prices that set oil all over the world. host: and the average price now? guest: in the u.s., about $4.30, which is down quite a bit from june, when it was above $5 per gallon. host: will it go lower? guest: that is the key question.

there is a lot of uncertainty, as there always is. if the economy continues to slow globally, if china's economy remains on a slowed path, then we may have seen the peak in gasoline prices this year. however, we do have efforts to reduce russian oil exports, particularly by the european union, which are supposed to take effect at the end of this year. so if there are significant amounts of russian oil removed on the market, then we could see prices rise again. but that is a big uncertainty, because so far, russian crude oil exports have been resilient. but if we did lose a couple million barrels per day of russian crude oil exports later this year and early next, that is a different story. host: you said former president trump yogurt a deal to cut reduction in april of 2020, when the demand was so low. now president biden is asking

those countries to increase production. are they responding? guest: somewhat. saudi arabia and the uae are the two main countries that have the capacity to increase production. they have increased it significantly. saudi arabia production right now is at an all-time high. they have never produced more than they are now. what is not very clear is how much more they can produce. oil production and capacity is a function of investment. so countries, companies can invest more to produce more. but that takes time, and there does appear to be a very incursion of spare capacity right now in the middle east. host: we will hear from john in iron mountain, michigan. good morning. what do you say? caller: with the price of oil,

whatever it is, at $98, what we are paying now, hours dropped over a dollar since last month or so, so we are averaging $4.09 a gallon right now. across the border in wisconsin, which pays one less gas tax, they are in the $3.90's or $3.85. we get our gas and oil from green bay, wisconsin, because we have no refineries in the upper peninsula right now. and i am up on the politics. if the republicans would sign the price gouging bill that is in the works right now, it would down another at least $.50 a gallon right now. that is my comment. i'm a math person. i remember -- at $98 a barrel

back -- it was at $3.75 back a couple years ago. at $98, it should be $3.75. host: is that true? guest: gasoline prices are set by the global market. so the u.s. exports and imports gasoline. we export from the gulf coast. and on the east coast, we still need to attract gasoline imports to the u.s. east coast. so the price of gasoline that the all pay, yes, different state taxes have an impact. how close you are to a refinery or distribution center, that has an impact. prices will be lower in texas, because that is where many refineries are, versus aces where they do not have them. but essentially, it is the global gasoline demand that is shaping the price. and there is also another story, and that is mobile refining capacity.

so you produce crude oil, take it out of the ground, and then you have to refine it and turn into gasoline and diesel and jet fuel. the global refining market, the global refining industry has lost a lot of capacity in recent years, and that is another factor that is shaping the price of gasoline. host: lost capacity or shut down? guest: shut down capacity -- host: and not coming back? guest: no. a little bit could, but once you shut the refinery -- again, it depends on the reason. it is difficult to come back. there could be some cases where it does, but essentially, a couple refineries in the u.s. have been closed and converted to produce biodiesel. they have been a couple refineries closed in the u.s. because of damage, severe damage. probably not going to come back. there are a couple refineries that have shut down for economic reasons.

the backdrop to this is, if you look at the last decade, 2010 to 2020, it was not a good decade for oil investment. investors were telling oil companies, watch your spending, cut back. we want you to make more money, not less. so that backdrop is really important to understand where we are today. host: did those same investors or were investors also concerned about the boom and bust cycle of this industry and not wanting to invest as much? guest: absolutely that is part of it. we had this great growth in u.s. oil production last decade. just stunning growth, the most growth we had ever seen from a single country in a decade. also, that strong growth from the u.s. contributed to two oil price collapses, one in 2014. it was a factor in the covid

price collapse of 2020. so investors were rewarding companies earlier to grow production. but we grow production that fast, the price collapses, price volatility -- so yes, price volatility, along with many governments around the world, essentially were saying in their policies, sometime in the future, we do not do your product. we want to use less of it. if you are investing in oil, which has long-lived assets, and hear the european union, the biden administration, china saying look, we are not sure we want much of your stuff at some point in the church -- future, that is part of the investment background as well. host: dave in florida, good morning. caller: good morning. thanks for taking my call. i was calling to speak about refineries in the united states, and he just addressed it pretty

well. one thing is some people have a conspiracy theory that oil prices are going down because it is the third quarter of cpi that determines the quota for social security recipients and other federal workers. i guess we will have two wait to see if oil prices jump back in the fourth quarter. as far as refining, i have a hard time buying that a lot of these refineries are shut down and we cannot reopen them for the reasons are said. if so, if it is hard to do, we have done a lot of hard things in this country. i just keep thinking -- reaegan -- reagan shut down air traffic controllers. we had the defense production act for baby formula. why can't we defense production act and reopen one or two of these refineries, get them repaired and fixed and up and

running? if it takes a year, it does not matter, because it will lower the price of oil. the oil companies seem to have less incentive for refining higher product, because the price will go down. host: let's get an answer from jim burkhard. guest: the united states has the biggest, most flexible, sophisticated refining system in the world. it is also very responsive to changes in market conditions, far more so than most other stasis, which have state run companies. so the question implies could be there -- could there be some type of state intervention. i will not comment on that directly, but u.s., to open up a refinery -- say you had a refinery run the last 10 years, and you had poor returns. he did not make a whole lot of money -- it not make a whole lot of money. then you have a year like 2022, and the margins -- the difference between where a

refiner purchases crude oil and the gasoline price it sells. that is the margin, the gross profit margin of refiner's. yes, has been attractive this year, no question about it. but to open up a refinery, you're making a bet, of sorts, on the long-term market environment wart refinery margins. refinery margins were very high earlier this year. they have already come down. next year, two years, three years, are they going to remain high enough to support the reopening of a refinery? the last decade would say probably not. so companies do not make decisions based on we had a good order, let's spend a few billion dollars opening up a new refinery when they shut it down for economic reasons or other reasons -- could be strategic reasons. to lower emissions, for example.

so it is not as simple as the government ordering refineries to open. it is much more complex. and keep in mind u.s. system has been very reliable, very complex, and it has been in private hands. host: the senate is nearing a vote this week on the so-called inflation reduction act. jim burkhard, i want to get your reaction to senator joe manchin touting this agreement he made with senator chuck schumer and the energy provisions that are in it. take a listen. [video clip] >> first of all, we have the highest gas prices right now. inflation is killing, hurting everyone in west virginia right now. it is hurting all working people across america. if you want to get the gasoline prices down, you have to produce your way out of it. we have to bring more manufacturing back to america. let me tell you what the bill does. it gives us a strong fossil energy produce the cleanest arms of fossil energy in the world. that is carbon reduction, when

you are replacing the dirtiest carbon. host: jim burkhard? guest: senator manchin makes a good point. and that is yes, the biden administration and many other governments around the world want to reduce the use of fossil fuels. what to do that, you need to have readily available replacements. so if you want to negatively impact supply or discourage investing in new supply before demand can adjust, then you're going to have high prices. the energy transition is not something done in a day, a year, or even a decade. it will be a number of decades. so there does need to be adequate fossil fuel supply for many years into the future, if we want prices to remain more affordable. host: this is the washington post headline -- manchin-schumer

deal would -- as part of the broader deal would overhaul the nation's process for approving new energy products, including by expediting a gas pipeline proposed or west virginia. can you talk about this, and what with this do? not part of the reconciliation package, so it will take 60 votes. what will it do to the industry? guest: i think there are a lot of concerns all around about the permitting process in this country, whether for oil and gas or something else. it does take a long time. doing a review of that process, perhaps to make it more efficient, to look at the national interest or something like that could be the right thing to do. host: what about the pipeline in west virginia? guest: the u.s. has a lot of natural gas. a lot of it is in the northeast and pennsylvania right now. getting into the rest of the

country is a challenge. for example, one anecdote is not too long ago, russian gas went into boston harbor. when there is enormous amounts of gas not far away, but the lack of interstate pipelines meant the gas had to come from russia to massachusetts. instead of getting gas from pennsylvania. that is one example, one anecdote, but i think it is an example of how pipeline politics in this country have really impacted how efficiently we have oil and gas flow from the united states and also from canada to the united states. host: dennis in denver, we go to next. good morning. caller: good morning. the first thing i have to say is, jim, you have to stop flailing those hands around on

stockade it is just annoying -- host: come on, some people talk with their hands. move on. it's ok. go ahead with your question or comment. caller: in america, ladies and gentlemen, there is no shortage of gasoline. it just costs more. in the 1970's, we had a shortage, when you could only buy five gallons of gas at a time or you can only buy gas every other day to that was a shortage. we do not have a shortage. they are just charging more. it is as simple as that. in the other thing is, what you said there, jim, about refineries being closed and far away from where gas stations are, that determines price, that is not true. in north dakota, they have a refinery -- the gas in bismarck, gasoline always costs more in bismarck than in fargo, north dakota. 200 miles further away from the

refinery and further from where the oil comes from -- host: so maybe there is an explanation. jim burkhard? guest: and i will keep my hands down as i respond to this. so the price of gasoline is globally set. now there are going to be some specific markets, some markets that are more isolated, that may be served by a single refinery or a single pipeline that may not have the same degree of competition that you may find in some places elsewhere, where there is a lot of refineries and available supply. so the geography of a specific argot, how many refineries, or lack thereof, serve that market also impacts the price. but essentially, the price of gasoline is set by what is happening in the global market. host: jerry in pittsburgh, texas. hi. caller: good morning. thanks for taking my call.

jm, i am 86 years old. i can remember in the 1950's, when i was a teenager, gas was $.10 a gallon, when i first started driving. i've been in texas all my life. i have a working knowledge of what happens with oil and gas. i have a lot of things that had -- what is happening now, we have had high prices on gas, but we started using other strategic reserves. from what i understand, there is about 400 million gallons there. they started using one million gallons a day for six months. and this was that they are using now when it's a hundred dollars a barrel. when they reply said it will be twice as high as when they took it out. that is what reduce the price

around $.20 a gallon. they have also talked about taking the 18 sent federal tax off of it, has that been applied yet? is that bringing it down, that will reduce the price? guest: yes, the biden administration released a million dollars a day of crude oil that will and in october, november roughly. the additional supply from the petroleum reserve has also played a role in moderating prices and preventing prices from going even higher than they would've been. that can't last forever, but it certainly has played a role this year, especially in the months right after the russian invasion

when uncertainty was so high and there was great fear that we could immediately lose a lot of russian supply. that did not happen but we did not know that back in march and april. we could still use the russian supply later this year. a million barrels of gas has been an important boost to gas and played a role in price formation. host: we will go to montgomery, alabama. bernie? question or comment for our guest. caller: i have three questions. my first one was which companies benefited from the iraq war? and what american companies benefited from the libyan unstable government and my third question is how do you factor in

greed? i will let you answer that. guest: it is a competitive market in the quest for profits dries most any industry whether you are in the tech industry, car industry, whatever it is. profit is what makes an economy work. no oil company can set the price of oil. the president of the united states does not set the price of oil, the king of saudi arabia does not set the price of oil. it is many different factors around the world. there may be a tendency to want to identify one or two factors in say this factor is responsible for prices going up or down. that could play a role, it is often a more complex set of

factors and conditions that drive prices up and down. we like to simplify it. we try to boil it down. that has some value to try to understand and at times, there are major factors and events that have a disproportionate amount of influence on the price of oil. the russian invasion of ukraine, that was a single event that had a massive impact. generally speaking, there are many forces shaping the price of oil. economic trends in china, the amount of eeev sold in the u.s., how much production capacity is taking place, how investors are shaping upstream investment in the united states. all of those impact the price of oil. it is not a single factor or person or group or company that

set the price of oil. host: patrick from jupiter, florida. caller: i am a first time caller . i have a few questions with all of this fake news that i hear. under president trump, is it true that we were energy independent? when biden ran for president he said they were going to get off fossil fuels. now we are trying to get off fossil fuels but then he goes over to china and he is selling china our fuel from our reserve. why are we using our reserves to go to china when they have threatened to blow up planes? he really didn't get off fossil

fuels and if they want people to buy electric cars why aren't the u.s. federal cars electric? host: were re-energy independent because that is something we hear a lot. guest: that can mean different things for different people. that could mean that the u.s. imports no fossil fuels or energy whatsoever. for others it may be that we are a net exporter. it depends on what exactly do you mean by that, energy independence? what we have seen from 2009-2020 u.s. gas production grew enormously under democratic and republican presidents and that is largely due to innovation and price signals. production grew enormously

during that time in the u.s. at times has been a net oil exporter. but then, we import a lot of energy from quebec in the northeast. we import a lot of oil from our allies in canada. do we think of canadian oil the same as we do russian oil? energy independence is a slogan that has a lot of political connotations, but the u.s. in terms of fossil fuel production, we produce a lot more than we did in 2008 when u.s. oil production was at its lowest point in many decades. host: that is still the case today? guest: the u.s. is the largest oil producer in the world in the largest gas producer in the world. host: if that is your definition are we energy independent? guest: the u.s. still needs to

import and export oil and gas. we are still linked to the global market. if you want to draw a wall around the u.s. saying that we export or import anything. we would probably have a lower standard of living. the connection to the global oil market is important and we are the biggest player in terms of production. even then, the global oil market is too large for any one country to control. the u.s. produces -- host: what about other countries? guest: opec would like to have greater influence influencing prices.

the size of the market is so big, so complex that there is no single entity that controls the oil price. host: jack from georgia. caller: i just came across a statistic a while ago, thousands of barrels a day of petroleum. this indicated that at the end of the trump administration the country was producing 11,600 barrels per day. currently, it is about 11,005 hundred. there has been no decline in the ability. is that a good statistic? guest: i think using the president to demarcate highs and and lows in oil production can

be a way to measure time but production during the trump administration was much higher than when he led. but that is because of covid and the price collapse. oil investment responds to prices. high prices lead to higher investment. the u.s. oil industry is the most responsive to changes in market conditions. the decline in prices lead to less investment and lower production. since covid hit, oil production has been on the rise. it is higher today than it was a year ago. host: we didn't answer the second part of that previous callers question which was president biden signaling that we are going to get off of this as a country and the caller was asking about reports that the president is now selling our reserves to china. guest: wanting to reduce

reliance on fossil fuels, that certainly complicates investment and oil production wherever you are. if you are an investor, you are an oil company and you are seeing the united states, china, europe all adopt net zero ambitions which implies at a minimum far less use of oil. that is going to make you think twice about investment, particularly in long-lived assets. you may be much more cautious about investing. you can call it preemptive underinvestment or disinvestment if your main markets around the world are saying that at some point we don't want your stuff. that has an impact. the u.s. strategic petroleum reserve that has been bought, a lot of u.s. companies have bought that oil. it is a global market and the key to lowering crude oil prices

is having more supply go into the global oil market regardless of where it is. it can flow to some foreign buyers, inflows to a lot of u.s. buyers. the point is to get more oil in the global oil markets. that is what saves the price of gasoline we pay here. host: janet from maryland. caller: good morning ma'am, i'm calling to find out why the people of the u.s. are not asked anything about what they do. we are the ones who are al ways suffering and always paying for everything. we want gas cars, we don't want electric vehicles. with those you can only ride around your own town.

inflation is really bad. the border is really bad. i don't understand personally why they are doing what they are doing. guest: there is not one monolithic american people who want the same thing. many americans will continue to buy gasoline powered cars. there are some who like to buy battery electric vehicles. 10 years ago, battery electric vehicles didn't really exist in any meaningful sense. now they are getting up to 5, 6, 7% of u.s. car sales. there is a segment of the population that does want to buy dvds.

evs. there are some incentives in california to push that along. there are some consumers out there who would like to buy evs but there are many more who continue to buy gasoline cars. this trend, the electrification of transport, this will unfold over many decades. there will be ups and downs, there are pros and cons. luxury vehicles are likely to capture a growing share of the automotive market. in china, sales of electric cars have accounted for 20-25% of new car sales. there are some mandates and incentives that have push that along but it also reflects to some degree some consumers wanting to buy electric vehicles. host: from maryland.

caller: i just want to make two comments about who sets the price. earlier it was mentioned that there are many factors. in reality, there are only so many countries that produce oil and they happen to be in control of supply. other than that, they pretty much control a lot of what the prices. my second comment is regarding the question on whether under trump the u.s. was more oil independent. people need to know that oil prices have nothing to do with neutralization. it is the companies that set the prices. the presidents have nothing to do with it.

with trump, there was no independence of oil. host: we will take that, we are running short on time. guest: opec+, their partners and supply management, those countries that collectively produce about 40 million of barrels a day. global oil consumption is close to 100 million barrels a day. those countries are a very important component of the oil supply. it is an important grouping of countries whose aim in 2020 was to defend oil prices and push them higher at that time. even with a 40% share of the oil market they can't control oil prices. many of these countries are producing as much as they can now. if they could produce more, they

probably would especially with prices at these levels. keep in mind, it is also a question of investment and the decline in investment that we saw in 2020 till having an impact today. host: jim burkhard thank you very much for talking to our viewers we appreciate your take. guest: thank you greta. later on in the program, axios senior political josh kraushaar discusses the political news of the day. but first, we will open up the lines in here any public policy issue that concerns you. those of the lines, start calling now. >> live sunday on in-depth, columnist larry elder will be our guest to talk about

political correctness, the left and racial politics in the united states. he is the author of several books including "10 things you can't say in america," join in with your facebook comments, text and tweets. in-depth with larry elder live sunday on c-span two. c-span has unfiltered coverage of the house january 6 committee hearings investigating the attack on the capitol. go to c-span.org/january 6 our web resource page to watch the latest videos of the hearings, briefings and all of our coverage on the attack and subsequent investigation since january 6 2021. we will have reactions from members of congress and the white house as well as

journalists and authors talking about the investigation. go to c-span.org/january 6 for a fast and easy way to watch when you cannot see it live. at least six presidents recorded conversations while in office. here many of those conversation during season two of the podcast presidential recordings. the nixon tapes, they are part conversations, part deliberation and one unfiltered. let me say the main thing is, my heart goes out to those people who with the best of intentions are overzealous. as i am sure you know, i tell you if i could have spent a little more time being a politician last year and less time being president i would've kicked thereabouts out but i did not know. find it now on c-span two mobile

or wherever you get your service. "washington journal," continues. host: we are in open forum for about 20 minutes. republicans (202) 748-8000 comment democrats (202) 748-8001 and independents (202) 748-8002. text your public policy issue to (202) 748-8003. the headlines this morning on all the papers are that the president announced a drone strike that he authorized to successfully kill al qaeda's leader who took over for osama bin laden when he was killed during the biden administration. the president said he was deeply involved in the planning of the 9/11 attacks and the mastermind

behind other attacks like the uss cole and embassies in africa. here's what the president from the white house had to say. [video clip] >> we were seeking him under president bush, obama and trump. we located al-zawhari this year. after carefully considering the location, i authorized a position strike that would remove him from the battlefield once and for all. this mission was carefully planned, rigorously to minimize the risk to other civilians. one week ago, after being advised the conditions were optimal, i gave the permission to go through with the mission. none of his family members were hurt and there were no civilian

casualties. i am sharing this news now after confirming the missions total success through the painstaking work of our counterterrorism communities. my administration has cap congressional leaders -- capped congressional leaders in the loop as well. we no longer needed thousands of books on the ground in afghanistan to protect us from harm and i made a promise to the american people that we would continue to conduct counterterrorism in afghanistan and iran. in february, our forces carried out a mission in syria. now we have eliminated the leader of al qaeda. he will never again allow

afghanistan to become a safe haven. host: president biden from the white house last night. you can call in and talk about what you heard from the president right there. you can also talk about speakers nancy pelosi's scheduled trip to taiwan. she is in malaysia today. it is evening time there and she is expected to continue on to taiwan according to reporting. the u.s. navy deploys for warships east of taiwan as senator pelosi heads to the capital of taiwan and this reporter is tweeting out this morning, taiwan's presidential office website and several government websites appeared to be down in a cyber at head of senator pelosi's expected visit

to the island. there is other news as well. we talked earlier this morning about the impact act with jon stewart and veterans protesting. they slept at the capitol last night hoping to hold lawmakers beat to the fire. republicans saying that they plan to vote for this legislation when it comes to the senate floor again this week and senator chuck schumer says he will bring it back for a vote this week. also in the senate, planning to vote on the inflation reduction act. the deal brokered between senator schumer and senator joe manchin last week. we are waiting to hear how kyrsten sinema plans to vote on the bill. tony from spring, texas. we are an open forum, what is on your mind? caller: i want to comment on the

gentleman you had on previously. oil is hovering around $94 a barrel and gas prices are sky high. 15 gallons of gas cost me $55. maybe that is good in my area and baz somewhere else. my point is, if a barrel of oil is $90 a barrel, previous years oil has gone over $100 a barrel and the prices back then were not as high as they are now. my question is, do you think the oil producers are jockeying for higher prices due to electric cars? host: in new york city, and independent.

caller: hello? host: we are listening joseph. caller: i was just wondering, i am from new york city and i take the subway which is electric and a lot of the public transportation is electric in the city. i have never owned a car. i was wondering how oil and gas going to compete with renewable energy in the future on a cost by cost basis? and second of all- host: i am going to go on to another call. caller: i am from north carolina and i want a proposal for the democrats who are getting ready to run, if you are going to run

for the senate or the presidency or put your name up for the supreme court you must freeze your assets and say everyone who is going to run signed to freeze their assets while they are in office. if you don't like it, get out of office and let somebody else run. host: in ocean shores, washington. a republican. hi glenn. caller: i wanted to make a comment on fuel. i will tell you what, i bought 39 full batteries. three batteries were $52. now they are $17 apiece.

i want to make a comment about fuel, i listen to your last segment. i would like to suggest it would be a good, new paradigm so that the u.s. permits and leases the oil itself. it could be natural gas or minerals like copper. the oil is in the ground, produced compliments of nature, physics, god. why are the oil companies allowed to own it like they made it? they did not make the oil. they refine it, they distributed. if we made it so the american people own the oil to begin with and we pay each of these companies after they compete for a procurement to drill for it,

to transport it, to refine it and bring it to the gas pump they get their percentages of that but the american people would be paying the price based on the quota that the american people's needs are met first. not the world market price. and if there is a glut, there would be because we are the biggest oil producer in the world. then we sell on the global market but the american people make the profit off of that. i am just saying to summarize, we should change the whole paradigm. this should extend to water. they did not make water. they just process it, distribute it. they get paid for putting pipes in the ground.

the water itself should be owned by the people, not the companies that sell it to us. host: tom and charlottesville, virginia. an independent. caller: my comment is about the federal government spending. these huge spending bills are presented short-term without any transparency, without any chance for the people who vote on them to read them. my proposal is that every spending bill in congress is read out loud in congress, of course it will be on c-span. everyone has a chance to comment on the spending bills before they are voted on. host: speaking of voting, chuck schumer said they are going to vote this week on the inflation reduction act. the deal brokered between him and senator joe manchin. we have not heard from kyrsten sinema and how she will vote.

the deal is in line with the preferences she laid out in past negotiations, from its modest reforms to action on climate to the minimum tax rate to raise $413 billion.

that is in the washington post this morning. later today, we are going to be -- in less than an hour, we are

going to be bringing new coverage of the senate banking committee. they're holding a hearing on the housing crisis in light of the new reconciliation package. that was the deal struck with mansion and schumer. this goes along with this headline in the washington post, rent and home prices still soaring it, but at a slower pace. you can watch that hearing it right here on c-span. tomorrow, 10:30 a.m. eastern it, there is going to be hearing on the bipartisan deal struck with senator joe manchin and susan collins on changing the electoral count act. that very old law that was called into question on january 6, they have reformed the act and they are holding a hearing on it. we will have coverage on c-span

on our website. you can watch it on demand and our free video app. let's go back to calls. we are in open forum in new mexico. good morning. caller: you guys do a good job. i appreciate what you do. joe manchin let us down. he was the only one holding heavy and going against the norm. everything is all messed up and they going to spend all of our money. quit spending it on every thing. thank you so much for doing your job. host: what do you think -- we lost rob. that he is in california. good morning. caller: how often do you have -- host: i can't understand you.

who do we have on our show? caller: axios. how often do you quote the washington post, new york times, all the rest of the liberal media? why don't you have a guest from newsmax? why do you take three times more democrat collars and let them talk longer on your show. c-span is biased and you cannot deny it. host: let me ask you. you sat down and kept track of how many calls? caller: i have. host: you know people call us, we don't call them. we take the calls that come in. caller: it's not like that. you are just making excuses.

if that was true, why are your guests predominantly liberal. why are you always quoting liberal media. host: you need to take c-span as a whole and look at everything that we cover and who we talk to and not just on washington journal. we strive for balance. it's -- it's not a perfect mathematical equation. we read national papers because that's what people read here in washington. we are letting you know what the decision-makers here are reading. it's not an endorsement of these newspapers. i take your point about more diversification of publications and outlets. mary is in las vegas. are you there?

caller: good morning. spare me newsmax. can you hear me? good morning. i'm hoping that c-span would have someone on to take questions from people. she has a book called strongmen. i think we need to be enlightened on the creeping fascism. i just think the high gas prices are just the pandemic. we weren't driving as much. people didn't have jobs. they're trying to make back from that. they have had record profits, all of them have had a boom the last year. i am also concerned about comments that come from that

senator scott in florida, mitch mcconnell, lindsey graham, about taxpayers shouldn't have to pay for social security and wanting to extinguish it in five years. it doesn't concern them. there $7,000 per month pensions get paid by the taxpayers. there is an autocratic bent going on in our country. we had better wake up. people need to take the time and watch other stations. host: paul in pennsylvania. caller: my main concern is the amount of money that's being spent out of washington. we've given billions to help ukraine. we've given billions to all of

these different countries, what do we get in return? host: what do you think should be done? when it comes to ukraine? caller: i think that to come to some agreement with getting the u.n. involved and put in you in peacekeeping troops to come to some agreement with the overall reason why russia is doing what it's doing it. i'm probably not making any sense. host: larry in north carolina. your turn. caller: how are you doing? good morning. i just called about two things.

the v.a. bill that democrats are trying to pass and blaming republicans for not signing onto it. the news media should report the facts on that. because of the $400 billion going to anything but the v.a. host: that's the concern that could happen. it is mandatory spending. caller: mandatory. that's what's wrong with the bill. it's mandatory. if they change that language, the publicans would get on the bandwagon. host: let's listen to senator to me. he brought up this concern, what

he calls a budget gimmick. here he is on state of the union sunday. >> the top republican on the committee says he thinks republicans should pass this now and fix any problems that emerge later. >> except there's never an opportunity to fix the problems later. they know they can prevent us from fixing it later. >> one of the questions people have is the v.a. budget will always remain subject to congressional oversight. they can't just spend this money anyway they want. the legislation says this money has to be spent on health care for veterans who suffered exposure to toxic burn pits. >> this is why they do this. it gets very deep in the weeds and confusing.

it's not about veteran spending. it's about what category of government bookkeeping they put the veteran spending is. my change would have no effect on the amount of money under which it's being spent. what i want to do is treated for government accounting purposes the way we've always treated it. if we change it, it creates room in future budgets for $400 billion of unrelated extraneous spending on other matters. we are spending way too much money to use to hide behind a veterans bill the opportunity to go on and unrelated spending spree. we should not allow it. host: that is from sunday's state of the and. they expect the bill to pass this week.

it will be brought to the floor for another vote. let's go to larry in eugene, oregon. good morning. caller: good morning. i haven't heard much about the trip to taiwan by nancy pelosi. the chinese are taking it extremely seriously. our mainstream media ignored this. it's a very serious situation. host: we are watching that this morning. we are watching that this morning, we shared headlines about it. they are 12 hours ahead.

we it's almost 12 hours from us on the east coast. it's evening time there in taiwan. we are watching the wire to see, we will let you know if there are reports about it. we did share headlines about naval ships positioning outside taiwan. she's expected to make that trip to the capital. they deployed four warships. also from an israeli reporter who noted there been cyber attacks in taiwan. the government website, etc.. we are watching that story. ron is in pennsylvania.

caller: good morning. thank goodness to meet his leaving the senate. mike johnson was on last week, talking about the sanctity of life. it seems like when it comes to abortion there is a sanctity of life. when it comes to the veterans and students getting shot, it disappears. all i can say is the republican party, the are stands for regressive. go fetterman. host: we will leave it there. a discussion is coming up on campaign 2022. we will talk about other political news as well. we will get a breakdown of that with axios. we will be right back.

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thing is that it will pass. my heart goes out to those people. if i could have spent a l'amour time being a politician last year and more time being president, i didn't know what they were doing. host: josh kraushaar is with us to talk about any primaries that are happening today across the country. let's start with arizona. what are you watching for? guest: a lot of big statewide primaries where donald trump has exerted his influence, endorsing a former tv newscaster turned very mag a republican.

she is going up against a businesswoman who is endorsed by the governor. mike pence, this is a classic m aga versus establishment showdowns. there are a lot of other big races in arizona, the senate primary and secretary of state. a lot of these establishment tests on the ballot. host: let's stick with terry lake. how is she looking in a general election? guest: arizona is a swing state. she is very pro-trump, one of the most loyal republicans to the presidents can -- conspiracy theories of the arizona election results. she is going to have a harder time winning the general election, the favored democrat

certified the election for president biden in 2020. arizona is a swing state. it's a good year to be a republican. she's got a decent chance if she wins tonight to win an election in arizona. host: i didn't know if i said that. talk about that. who would he face and a general election? guest: the senate primary features blake masters, a protege of peter teal, the entrepreneur who has funded a lot of republican candidates from -- he endorsed him in that race. there are a few other candidates, the attorney general. the trump endorsement is looking like it's given masters a lot of momentum. host: how is mark kelly looking? guest: any democrat, senator

kelly is a first-term democrat, is going to have a challenging reelection in a swing state. his hope is that some of the more -- if masters is the nominee, some of the more moderate suburban swing voters might vote democratic because they don't want to vote for the more far right trump candidate. arizona is a good example of trump aligned candidates doing well in the primary, but democrats will have a renewed opportunity to win tough races because republican nominees may be too extreme. host: let's talk about the missouri primary. guest: trump likes eric. he was deciding between eric schmitt and eric greitens, the disgraced former governor who is leading in the polls for quite some time. it looks like schmidt, the

attorney general, is the favorite. trump had a lot of close family members who were promoting eric reitan's. he decided not to make a decision. he said he was supporting and eric. it is his way of getting out of a jam, not having to pick between two different groups of supporters. host: if you are in missouri, we want to hear from you. what to do? are people looking for the former president to give them a signal? guest: there are a lot of republicans who couldn't stomach the possibility of eric reitan's , he's accused by his ex-wife of domestic abuse. he resigned from the governor's office in disgrace a few years ago. they couldn't stomach the possibility of him winning. there is a super pac publicans

were donating to to prevent him from winning that nomination. host: what about michigan? guest: that's another wild and crazy republican primary. two of the leading candidates were disqualified earlier this year because they didn't get enough signatures qualify. there was some fraud involved in their signature collection. the leading candidate is dixson, a conservative commentator, someone who is supported by betsy devos, a former education secretary. this should likely seal the deal for her nomination. host: then in michigan, you have a republican number of congress facing an uphill better. guest: one of the 10 house republicans who voted for president trump's impeachment

and may end up facing a big backlash as a result. the opponent of congressman meyer, he is a trump-endorsed candidate. he didn't raise a lot of money on his own. he didn't put together much of a campaign. the democratic congressional campaign committee poured in half $1 million to boost the trump candidate in hopes of taking out one of the more anti-trump republicans. host: let's go to kansas. guest: there is a big referendum on abortion, whether they should codify pro-life provisions into the state constitution. kansas is a very conservative state. this is one of the first testings of the political issue, how it's going to play, even in a republican state like kansas

if a majority of kansans reject this pro-life plank to the constitution, it shows that democrats feel the issue of abortion rights will be a significant one in the midterms. host: what do they hope is the outcome? guest: they are hoping to reap a political backlash. in a year that's going to be tough to be a democrat on swing state ballots, they want to show that if a republican state -- it could have more significant consequences in bluer states. host: we want to get our viewers thoughts on this. many states are having primaries today. we have divided the line. you can also text us. include your first name, city,

and state. you can go to facebook or send a tweet. one more state, washington state. guest: this may be the biggest of all. you've got to republicans who voted for impeachment as well. washington has unique system where all the candidates of all parties are on the same primary ballot. that gives these two anti-trump republicans a chance to win or move on from the primary tonight. trump has had remarkable success ousting republicans who challenged him in 2020. this could be the one outlier in washington state. these are going to be important races to watch. host: one viewer opined that senator joe manchin agreed in this last-minute dealmaking with senator schumer on a climate change bill because he thinks

democrats are going to hold the senate. guest: i think it's very possible democrats could hold the senate. i do think they will gain many seats. they could gain a seat. i think joe manchin wanted to do something with his power while he has it. it's more likely that republicans take the senate or democrats render him less powerful in the next congress. i think he wanted to do something on his terms. he may not have this leverage after november. this was something he felt more comfortable with on his terms. host: if the democrats can pass this reconciliation deal they are doing, does that give them

some headwinds heading into november? guest: it can't hurt. i don't think there is anything that is politically sellable. there are some climate change provisions to help people pay for insulin. some things are in there that democrats can pitch. we spent the last year following the drama between joe manchin and aoc. you don't want to be divided heading into the midterm. at the very least, biden can claim an accomplishment and have his own party on the same team. host: what is sellable coming out of washington to voters from the democratic president and a democratic congress? guest: they are going to pitch

this as a bill that might help get americans health care, insulin is covered if that provision stays in the legislation. the gun-control bill passed congress, that is something democrats might talk about with public safety. with the economy the way it is right now, inflation still looming large, it is hard to pass any bill and get credit for an economy that people feel isn't we well. they feel disillusioned about the state of the country. policy isn't going to change the environment. a better economy, a better sense of safety in cities, that would move the needle politically. host: those are driving voters this year. are there other drive -- issues?

guest: education and covid, there is a lot of scar tissue from the regulations that were in place the last couple of years. we saw -- because of coded policies that were unpopular. the education issue is something to watch for. immigration especially, there is a special election in texas. that hispanic, -- won a democratic house seat. that is a trend to watch the hispanic vote will to write -- move to the right. host: independent, you are upset

-- first. caller: i wanted to make a comment about -- there is a litany of issues that people are looking at. i watched news every day from different channels and i am pro facing the environment and i was wondering if you can comment on what people are understanding and caring about and saying about the environment because we are so much -- you don't have time to waste to help the environment because of mistakes that we have made that some of them were on purpose and some were not and i think we have to be real and responsible. host: your.

--sure. guest: one of the big challenges politically is that climate change and those issues don't rank as a top issue. we hear about record heat as -- in the south and 100 degree temperatures in europe. we don't see climate change ranked as a top issue. what democrats are looking to do with this bill, is spend monday -- monday on these issues but these are not dramatic changes that the more progressive democrats want. this is not a green deal. host: birx in -- moderate in delaware. caller: i want to make it -- i

comment on the issue on abortion that is on the ballot on some states. i am just hard with what is going on in congress about abortion. this country is separated based on government and church and they are bringing religious beliefs into the issue. women are going to have abortion regardless of whether it is legal but if they are illegal, many women will die from their own way of aborting a pregnancy. abortion has to be legal. politicians and judges have to keep their noses out of the issue and let that decision be made between the women, the doctor, her guide and whatever family members she chooses. host: we were talking about this earlier.

kansas is the state to watch because of their abortion initiative. guest: kansas is the political test on the issue of abortion and what is interesting is that kansas, its neighboring state, missouri, has more restrictive abortion policies and it is a republican state but because of the different state constitution, missouri has become a pro-life haven whereas kansas where -- that is not -- just as republican -- this will be a very big test. host: some local headlines out of kansas. it is voters are receiving confusing texas -- text messages

about what they are voting on. mike, republican. caller: i was talking about, i know there is a lot of older, independents and democrats that listen to c-span but they say that the republican party is not your parents. the democrats -- your parents go up but we have american conservatives in, we will be up a creek because look at what president biden andy complete democratic control has done in the past 18 months. inflation went from 1.9-29.0. we have to stop the biden administration. to bring up liz cheney, he will

look for atv role on msnbc -- she will look for atv role -- a tv role on msnbc. guest: a desire for check and balances at a time when republicans desire for control. you see the president's party moving in the election. that is fundamental to american politics. we are in a polarized time, the fact that liz cheney, who is one of the most conservative republicans, except not supporting trump, sat -- that puts her in the democratic camp.

her vote is conservative but at this time, she is more popular with democrats. host: -- talking about extreme macro republicans --maga republicans. >> the threat is extreme maga republicans. that is a crisis we confront. extreme naca republicans --maga republicans. extreme on social security. they want to end it in five years. social security, they want to end it. extreme on democracy and they do not believe in it.

they want to leave on a path toward authoritarianism. extreme on guns and medicare. they want to end it in five years. that is the threat. that is why we will put people over projects and make it clear what these republicans are all about. host: does that argument work? guest: it is not fair political observation and it is somewhat true that extreme candidates of any party are less likely to win moderate voters. it is ironic to hear that from congressman jeffrey, how -- house democrats across the board have spent $50 million for voting for these maga

republicans to face the other republicans. democrats have had to face uncomfortable questions including congress -- congressman jeffrey sims of -- jeffries himself. host: independent. caller: thanks for having me. i was disappointed in the way are five probably -- our bipolar parties are operating. there is no middle ground and the democratic party, my father was very adamant democrat because he grew up in the depression era and he was a coal miner. anyone who knows the history knows about the union wars that went on. he was pro-worker rights. what happened to any of that,

especially now. corporations tell us how to live. the democratic party has fallen away from anything like that. host: i will have josh jump in. guest: the caller makes an important point that there are hundreds in the general election. these candidates are less valuable -- left valuable --fal liable. start catering to the base, which are getting more extreme. you have general elections between two extremes. the moderates make the difference. ultimately, it is which party and figure out how to nominate amazing -- mainstream

candidates. host: democratic caller. caller: hello. this is the first time i have ever called and i don't want to complain but the way i see things and maybe i am cloudy but i tried to watch on french -- all different channels and i am lucky that i can afford cable and it seems like fox news is so prevalent throughout america in places where there is not a lot of money and it seems like they control the characters because they are so big. they monopolize everything and it is hard to get with -- get away from that, that appearance, whatever they say is to -- is true. it is scary to think that we are going down that road and their narrative will prevail over

democracy. it is a business model to us after president -- two as have the president --to attack you president --the president -- and maybe it is the monopolization not -- lost -- laws but information dissemination is the key to everything. host: bobby division within the republican party. ron desantis -- and former president trump both could run and who else could run? guest: you have mike pence and nikki haley and anti-trump republicans that are fighting for a small piece of the

republican party but i was talking to a republican senators and he put it simply. among trump voters, half of them are the true believers. go to the rally and they are with trump -- they go to the rally mdr with trump and they deny the election. have voted for trump because they like his policies and they may agree with some of the things he says but they want to look for and care about their own economic situation. the policies that will go forward and they are looking someone new -- to someone new. 20% are anti-trump. liz cheney and larry hogan. there is a 60% share of the

publican party that would be -- republican party that will be the coalition of ron desantis. that is if the senses once -- ron desantis runs. that is the pathway that the governor will look at. host: he was -- bill young conservative voters group talking about how his message is all about before. guest: it is difficult for the former vice president because he is stuck between a rock and a hard place. democrats taken for serving as a loyal vice president under former president trump and republicans, at least the maga look at him negative because of

forging a different course from donald trump. there is a constituency from that -- for that but it is a smaller party. it will be hard for him to forge a majority. host: michelle in ohio. republican. caller: thank you for taking my call. what got me to call in west the two people from all have, the first people -- lady talked about the environment. i have lived here for three months. it is beautiful and this is one of the richest cities per capita. the other lady from ohio called about abortion. what is happening in the country, which i believe, we talk about maga.

it is real and it will be here in fall. we are voting for -- key things. we are no longer, maga people, are no longer going to lay our children at the abortion officer. god is moving our country in a big way. it is thou shall not kill. people, we need to wake up and we are taking candidates that will do what is right and will take care of the poor and president trump told us that. i lived in flint, michigan, before i lived here and i never saw so many poor people he brought up the -- be brought up through doing the right thing for people. what we have seen with the

shutdown on covid, you learn the government -- we learned the government would not be the answer. we need to dig deep inside. host: what are you hearing from that voter? guest: dr ohio senate race, it will be av test that republican should win. the democrat, tim o'brien, is a moderate democrat but he has not supported any regulations on abortion so you have two polar opposites on the abortion rates. that could drive voters to the polls. host: cap cpac -- you have cpac. other lawmakers in the former president trump.

-- and the former president trump. guest: is donald trump's home grab -- that is donald trump's home crowd. we have seen cpac appeal to certain republicans. it is not a drum part of the party. -- it is now the trump part of the party. host: i want to give the doors on the -- viewers an update on closing trust -- nancy pelosi's trip to taiwan. -- made a loop to the east to the philippines and appears headed straight for taipei, sources say eta in taiwan for

10:00 p.m. vogelsang. it looks like the speaker is going forward with her trip to taiwan. ryan independent -- independent. >> i was wondering what what you showed. why do you think all these republicans go to an extreme on antigovernment anything when they say they are christian. the previous caller was talking about environmental regulation. the bible tells us to protect your as well as -- detect --

protect the earth. a lot of republicans don't want to do that because they want to criminalize the lgbtq community. host: any thoughts? guest: we talk about the leading candidate for governor in arizona, sent money to obama. that is one of the things that -- at the base of the democratic party, they care about progressive policy and they want to move the country to the left. host: randy in florida -- democratic caller. caller: i keep hearing about how the democratic party is in

charge of everything and running everything but we have a separate -- a senate that started out before then all the way to barack obama when mitch mcconnell, the republican senate was going to make sure he is a one term president. he won again and after that, when joe biden came in, he said the same thing. he would make sure that he would not be -- joe biden will not be successful so it has been evident that the actual republican party has been against any type of progress as it goes to this president. you have a president -- the

company should be led by vip years other people who voted -- ideas of the people who avoid -- voted. if not this one man, doing this. host: let's talk about the president poll numbers. guest: president biden has poll numbers in the high 40's -- high 30's. what is more concerning is that he is losing folks in a party that are dissatisfied with the pace. he hasn't gotten the big problems he made in the administration. maybe if the joe manchin deal goes through will satiate the democrats. what is keeping democrats up at night, not only people approval

for president bynum but the base may not show up -- president biden but the base may not show up. host: i want to show our viewers. >> record gas prices and parents not having a say in education, achieving the american dream is out of grass. we can do better but that requires new leadership and that is why i am asking you to support marion -- always fight for you. host: opportunity matters -- guest: they are never any coincidences in politics. tim scott is one of the candidates possible for the 2020

for presidental race. you can see him being a compelling national figure. he is thinking about it himself. host: host could possibly be running -- who else could possibly be running? guest: the senator in arkansas. mike pompeo. it used to be the party infrastructure -- the dnc would have some role as the gatekeeper. now it is a wrestling match where everyone is fighting with each other. i don't think trump will clear the field. it will be a open primary and if

president biden does not take a second term, the democratic field will be messy. host: democratic caller. there -- are you there? good morning. go ahead. caller: my question -- you're always talking about joe biden and trump. once you know why you say that with a lot of things he have done wrong. host: i will leave it there. let's talk about the democratic field for president. guest: it depends on president biden will run for the second term. age is the elephant in the room.

the majority of democrats don't want president bynum to run. some people think he is too old to be president. if he decides to retire and step aside, it will be a civil war between the moderates and the progressives. some of that has been papered over but the fight between progressives and moderates is just as intense between the points between democrats and republicans it on capitol hill -- republicans on capitol hill. you have aoc who claims to speak on the left. you have, will harris, whether she is --, let harris -- kamala

harris. there is a lot of issues. some democrats would weather have president biden stay in office. host: independent. caller: calling about the presidential election -- i am calling about the presidential election. why do people hate trump so that --bad? they hate the man so bad who did a good job but when president biden is in the warehouse, they changed the rules. everything goes up. host:? about the hypothetical matchup

between former president trump and president biden. guest: it is a mutual dependence. there is a good chance neither president biden or trump or on the balance on 2024 -- are on the balance on 2024. i am not sure that is what was once -- voters want. i know some leads on the republican polls but they made -- where the conservative movement is. president biden told promised was that he would be a bridge to the new generation of democrats and i think that is likely to happen in 2024. host: john in -- if you quit --

make it quick. caller: we are having the same battle on the left where the centrists are republicans anyway so i feel like we need to get more progressives in office and stop propping up people there are bad -- that are bad. host: we will talk about that. guest: despite the left having momentum, moderate democrats, the centrist democrats, have won a geordie of democratic primaries, do much better in general elections -- and if democrats want to win the senate , they need the moderate democrats. host: for viewers who are

political junkies, follow our guest on twitter. if you for the conversation -- thank you for the conversation. we will bring you to capitol hill. there is a senate banking hearing about the emerging health crisis. the senate is in session, we will take you there now. live coverage on c-span.